Speculative Design Ch. 5 - Response

This chapter really helped me understand how to apply speculative fiction to design, because after reading chapter 3, I had the idea of "dystopia" in my mind, but didn't quite know if there was a difference between fictional works like books and films, and speculative design. I actually thought books and films were a form of design (which they technically could be), but this chapter helped me distinguish them from design by specifying that design is less concerned with the world of other characters, and more about "bring[ing] the story closer to our own world." Something I noticed across a lot of the examples of speculative design (but isn't explicitly mentioned) is that they're normally focused on very isolated scenarios, and "logical" in the sense that they consider our daily routines. I feel like in dystopian novels and movies, they tend to gloss over the technicalities of daily life to focus on the overarching plot, but with design, they are focused on the everyday technologies, like a radio or hard drive, which indeed helps "bring the story closer to our own world" since we can imagine ourselves using that product or technology. In books/movies, however, they rarely explain how something works in detail, and are more focused on what it does (to develop the plot/world-build). Designers, by focusing more on the actual functionality on the object, have to rely on the audience's assumptions and interpretations more when it comes to story-telling, which actually works in its favors since the purpose of speculative design is more about a story that is closer to our own world.